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The size of a typical legion varied throughout the history of ancient Rome, with complements ranging from 4,200 legionaries and 300 equites (drawn from the wealthier classes – in early Rome all troops provided their own equipment) in the Republic, [1] to 5,500 in the Imperial period, when most legions were led by a Roman Imperial Legate.
Legionary is also a term used for members of various military forces which have been accorded the title of "legion", although bearing no resemblance to the heavy infantry of ancient Rome. In the 18th and early 19th century this designation was sometimes accorded to units which comprised both mounted and foot components.
Nero, Sestertius with countermark "X" of Legio X Gemina. Obv: Laureate bust right. Rev: Nero riding horse right, holding spear, DECVRSIO in exergue; S C across fields. This is a list of Roman legions, including key facts about each legion, primarily focusing on the Principate (early Empire, 27 BC – 284 AD) legions, for which there exists substantial literary, epigraphic and archaeological ...
According to Vegetius, a 4th-century Roman author, each century was equipped with a scorpio, a small torsion-powered ballista, for a total of six per cohort. A contubernium would be deputed to operate the weapon, when required. [11] Like most ancient artillery, these weapons were likely used in fixed positions for infantry defence, or in sieges ...
Legio IX Hispana ("9th Hispanian Legion"), [1] also written as Legio VIIII Hispana, [2] was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that existed from the 1st century BC until at least AD 120. The legion fought in various provinces of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire .
Decimation. Etching by William Hogarth in Beaver's Roman Military Punishments (1725). In the military of ancient Rome, decimation (from Latin decimatio ' removal of a tenth ' [1]) was a form of military discipline in which every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his cohort.
' a handful [of soldiers] ') was a tactical unit of the Roman Republican armies, adopted during the Samnite Wars (343–290 BC). It was also the name of the military insignia carried by such units. Maniple members, called commanipulares ( sg. : commanipularis ) were seen as each other's brothers-in-arms, but without the domestic closeness of ...
Roman ornament with an aquila (100–200 AD) from the Cleveland Museum of Art A modern reconstruction of an aquila. An aquila (Classical Latin: [ˈakᶣɪla]; lit. ' eagle ') was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome, especially as the standard of a Roman legion. A legionary known as an aquilifer, the "eagle-bearer", carried this standard.